Fairy Poison
by Bella Regia
Summary: Their childhood friendship is tinged with dark, dark fears. AU/AH.
1. Chapter 1

**Original by Carlos Enrique Taboada. I'm just adapting. All recognizable characters property of SMeyer. She owns us all.**

-X-

"Can I have your colored pencils?"

Bella raises her head to meet black eyes. Her hands instinctively cover her drawing, grasping the red pencil with her fingers. "Why?" Her brow furrows in confusion. Bella doesn't know this girl. Few girls in her class ever approached her.

"Because I like them… and I don't have any. You're Bella, right?"

"Yes… but I don't know you." Bella starts to shove the colored pencils in their little plastic case, tucking the paper with her picture inside her desk. "Why don't you ask your mom to get you some?"

"I don't have a mom. Or a dad. They died in a car accident when I was four. I live with my grandma, and she's real mean… she won't buy stuff for me."

Bella is surprised to feel her heart softening. Who is this strange girl that comes and asks as though it were here right? And yet…

"What's your name?"

"I'm Alice." She smiles and extends her hand to Bella, and she takes it slowly in hers.

Bella is disconcerted to feel Alice's small hand. She smiles tentatively, incapable of keeping a straight face before the girl's playful gaze. She feels kind of sorry for her. She thinks of her own parents, and how they have never denied her anything, much less a box of colored pencils. With her other hand, Bella pulls the pencil case from the desk and gives it to Alice.

"Really? Thanks, thanks a lot… we're going to be great friends, right?"

Bella feels her smile deflate a bit, and looks to her left. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see Angela, her best friend, busy with her own drawing. She shakes herself slightly and smiles at Alice again. "I think so."

"Good," says Alice, clutching the case and turning her back to Bella. "I wouldn't have liked to put a curse on you."

-X-

**Chapters will be very short, and so will the story. Review, please!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Not mine. **

-X-

"Nana, tell me about your village… tell me about where you used to live." Alice sits in a hard wooden kitchen chair, her black eyes trained on the cook. Rosemary, lavender, and garlic hang suspended from the beams of the kitchen roof. The smell of baking bread permeates the air. Two pots boil impatiently on the stove, releasing a soft mist.

Alice knows these smells, these textures, and they fascinate her. Since she came to live with her grandmother, the kitchen has been her refuge, and Nana has been her comfort. She sits and listens to her for hours, talking about everything and nothing. Alice likes to hear Nana talk about her native village, so far from anything she knows. They even speak another language, one that Nana refuses to teach Alice.

"Girlchild, what else can you know? I tole you all things a tousand times." Nana's lilting accent is soft, soothing.

Alice's elfin face, framed by black hair her grandmother likes to keep boyishly short, is eager and alight. "But I want to hear it again… tell me about that lady."

Nana laughs, stirring the content of her pots. This is Alice's favorite story. Minding the stove, she tells the story of the old village witch, her many-colored candles for every occasion, her fervent prayers to unknown saints, her strange aura that makes everyone in the village respect her.

Strange stories of apparitions, curses, and spells. Alice listens enthralled, bewitched, and this is how she has spent countless hours—Alice, her Nana, and the boiling of the pots.

-X-

**Short, but fast updates. This is how we'll roll. Review, please!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Still not mine. But if you like**** it, tell me so!**

-X-

"Alice, how did your parents die?"

Both girls are sitting under a willow tree in the schoolyard, watching the rest of the eight-year-olds play. Bella dares ask this question, taking advantage of Alice's good mood.

"Well, they told me that they were in a car accident. On the highway—I was very small, three, I think. And I've lived with my grandma ever since."

This fantastic grandmother of Alice's tales intrigues Bella. Almost as much as her friend's constant comments about the magic and the witchcraft she is passing on to her granddaughter. Even though Alice has not yet displayed any of her alleged powers, Bella doesn't dare doubt their existence. Something in Alice's eyes, like well-meaning malice, tells her that it is safer to believe. Little by little, after their conversation about colored pencils, Bella has fallen under the spell cast by Alice's black gaze. Little by little, Bella is digging information about Alice's life, and she is always willing to reveal it, particularly about how it is to be a real witch.

"Can witches die?"

"Sure we can. But it's harder."

"How come?" Bella is hanging on each and every word from Alice's lips.

"Because we have powers. For instance, I can't feel fear. I'm not afraid of anything." Alice hesitates. "Well, there is one thing. Fire."

"Fire? Why?"

Alice smiles. "Hundreds of years ago, they burned witches because they were scared of them."

Bella remains silent. Alice looks at her for a few moments, and then focuses her attention on the girls that run and scream around them.

Only in her deepest thoughts would Alice dare admit that she fears fire because that is how her parents died, wrapped in a blazing inferno, in the dark of a deserted highway.

-X-

**Creepy yet? Let me know!**


	4. Chapter 4

"Bella, I don't like you playing with Angela."

Bella turns in her chair, surprised. That whisper is more than enough to interrupt her thoughts, which had been wandering somewhere between math and history. "But, why?"

Alice purses her lips and shakes her head. Bella returns to her notebook, exasperated, but without a name for this feeling that wells inside her every time her new friend says such things.

Alice's murmurs are insistent. "She's not good for you. Don't you see? She wouldn't understand about us!"

Bella limits herself to shrugging her shoulders and looking furtively at Angela. She has to admit that having Alice as a playmate is interesting. She is not like the others. But she doesn't know why she should give up certain things without argument.

And at the same time, Bella knows that she will stop speaking to Angela, until one day she won't even notice her existence. Such is the power and jealousy exerted by Alice's eyes.

Angela herself already looks at Bella with sadness and confusion. She has lost, and she doesn't have a word for what she feels when she sees Bella and Alice together. Time will teach her to recognize that she is hurt.

Bella concentrates on the numbers and dates before her. Silently, she tacitly accepts the rules of Alice's game. It's only fear that keeps the words on the tip of her tongue, never to leave her mouth.

-X-


	5. Chapter 5

"Do you want to come over?" Alice's question surprises Bella. Until this moment, Alice's private life was off-limits. Alice is already well-known at Bella's house, but she really knows very little about her friend.

"Yeah, sure!" Holding hands, they make their way to Alice's house. As they walk, Alice tells Bella about the big house with the picture windows and porches, the splendid marble chimney, gauze curtains, the grand piano with its silk runner and the dining room table—with no less than twenty-four chairs! Everything fit for a princess.

"And you can also meet my grandma." Alice smiles, pleased, while Bella's smile falters on her lips. This grandmother… whom Alice swears has transmitted her knowledge of witchcraft to her. Bella honestly does not want to meet her.

When they arrive at Alice's house, Bella expects a mansion at the very least, but what awaits her is a very somber version of Alice's descriptions. Undoubtedly, it is a huge house, and had maybe been imposing in days gone by, but now it is old and dilapidated.

Upon entering, the sunlight is lost amongst the thick velvet and gauze window dressings, and a heavy tension floats in the air. Bella can almost touch it, like the dust. The marble chimney is fractured, and Bella can see it is only painted marble. The piano has yellowed ivory keys, and she discovers (encouraged by Alice) that it is completely out of tune. Alice doesn't seem to notice any discrepancies between descriptions of her home and reality.

But her grandmother is real, flesh and bone. _All_ _bone_, Bella thinks, when she sees her reclining against giant pillows. Her hair is brittle and looks like gray wires, and her face is lined like a raisin. But this is not the worst; Alice's grandmother is missing an eye, conferring upon her the aspect of a true witch. Bella feels her body flood with apprehension when she is introduced to this strange creature so old, she forgot to die.

And she listens as the grandmother asks her to come closer to the bed. And she can see how a wrinkled hand with nails sharp as claws extends towards her. And she can feel the claw close around her wrist and pull her forward. And she can smell how old she is, sweet and musty in its antiqueness. And she can taste the fear that creeps up her throat like a scream when she remembers that just like her grandmother, Alice is a witch too.

-X-

**Sorry for not updating this week. I gave you three chapters at once instead. ****Darker times ahead. Leave me some love! **


	6. Chapter 6

**I haven't done the rough draft for AWINTB, but in the meantime, here's another update. My father passed away one year ago today. Daddy, this one's for you.**

-X-

"I don't understand why you can't come over today." Alice crosses her arms and stares pointedly at Bella. She can notice impatience radiating from Alice like heat, although maybe this is only her imagination. Every day, Bella gets to know Alice's personality a little more, her tantrums, her fits, her moods, and the strange power she holds over her.

"I told you, I have a piano lesson. It's Tuesday, remember?" Bella adjusts her backpack, ready to walk to Ms. Cullen's house. She doesn't want to be late, and Alice is keeping her. Inside, Bella is glad she can't go to Alice's, glad she doesn't have to see the grandmother again. Besides, she _likes_ playing the piano, and enjoys her lessons very much. She has to have something in her life that doesn't revolve around Alice and her whims.

"Okay. But we have to do something about this. This is… interfering with our plans." Alice smiles with satisfaction, thinking about what she can do so that Bella doesn't have to take any more piano lessons. But to voice them out loud might scare Bella.

Bella smiles, uncertain, and turns. "Okay, tell me later. But I have to go now. Bye!" She breaks into a run, sure she's going to be late.

Ms. Cullen receives her with a smile, serene like always. Bella likes the time she spends at her teacher's home, playing the piano, getting lost in the simple melodies emanating from the keys beneath her fingertips, under Ms. Cullen's patient instruction. At the end of the lesson, she is served tea, or milky coffee, according to her mood, and Bella feels almost grown up. That day, the lesson ends well, and Bella feels easy in her mind, willing to go along with Alice's games.

The next day, at Bella's house, Alice asks her to go down into the basement and for Bella to bring one some of her old sheet music. As they go down, Bella notices the temperature drop just a few feet below the house, despite the May weather. She turns on the light, a bare bulb that emits a yellowish but comforting light in the darkness of the basement.

"Now we'll take care of your piano lessons forever." Alice smiles and pulls a few objects from her windbreaker pocket. She places some matches and small black votive candles on an old workbench. Bella feels the hair on her arms stand on end with a sudden draft of cool air.

"What are the candles for?" she asks, not sure she wants to know the answer.

"We're going to cast a spell, so you won't have piano lessons anymore. This way, we'll have all week to hang out together, won't that be great?" Alice smiles and reaches out, taking the sheet music Bella left on the table.

Bella observes in silence while Alice lights every candle, dripping runny wax on the workbench so the candles will stick and stand on their own. When she has a neat row of black candles in front of her, she holds a hand out to Bella, who takes it with trepidation. Alice lifts her arms and Bella copies her. She chants phrases in a strange language that Bella doesn't understand, but makes her skin prickle again. Alice seems completely sure of herself, and Bella lowers her gaze, watching the blackened wax ooze onto the table.

Finally, Alice lowers her arms and holds the Debussy sheet music over the tiny flames, waving them back and forth. "That's it… this is the solution to our problem."

Bella observes the candles' fire, how it consumes the nocturnes and preludes. She feels a knot form in her throat, and forces herself to speak. "But what's going to happen?"

"You don't have to worry about your piano lessons again. You'll see."

Bella nods and the knot travels down into her stomach. "And the black candles, where did you get them?"

"I painted them myself."

"Why black?"

"That's how the devil likes them."

-X-

**Leave me some reviews, I reply to them all!**


	7. Chapter 7

**While I wait for the next episode of "The Pillars of the Earth" to load, here's another update. Enjoy. **

-X-

"Flat, Bella, B flat." Ms. Cullen smiles patiently while her pupil begins the minuet again. Bella tries to concentrate, while her fingers draw music from the keys. She manages to play halfway through without any mistakes and her teacher, pleased, indicates that Bella is to continue playing while she goes to the kitchen to make some tea.

Bella repeats the same melody over and over again, until the movements of her hands become methodical and practiced, but retain the sweetness in each note. She finds herself so engrossed in the music that she doesn't realize more than half an hour has passed.

She stops abruptly, a discordant note shivering in the air. She can't hear anything from the kitchen—not the kettle boiling, or the merry clinking of cups and plates and spoons. Bella rises slowly, pushing the piano bench backwards.

Walking towards the kitchen, she glances at the framed pictures adorning the walls, the vases and flower arrangements on the tables, the lace doilies and lamps. Everything seems to have a light of its own, a particular glow. Bella walks past the dining room table and pushes the door that separates it from the kitchen.

Ms. Cullen is on the floor next to the stove, her long caramel hair covering her face. The elegant porcelain tea set is smashed beside her, lying in a puddle of hot water. Bella stands by the kitchen door, perfectly still, not knowing what to do.

A minute goes by, two, five, ten, Bella doesn't know. Little by little she becomes aware of herself again and finds her hands shaking uncontrollably, just like her legs. She's afraid she'll fall on her knees next to Ms. Cullen's motionless body and thinks, horrified, about what it would be like to touch her. This is what forces her to stumble out of the kitchen, clinging to the walls, chairs, anything, to keep from crashing to the floor.

She reaches the phone, breathing with difficulty, air panting its way from her mouth. Her head spins, and Bella tries to dial home, but her hands are shaking too hard. She dials three times before the call can get through. She can't stop seeing her teacher's face, hidden behind the brown curtain, and wonders if her eyes are open or shut. She doesn't want to wonder if she's alive or dead.

Bella grips the phone tightly, her knuckles white, almost transparent. She rocks back and forth. The line rings once, twice, five, ten times—Bella loses count. A high-pitched whimper escapes her throat.

"Pick up, pick up… Mom, please…pick up…" 


	8. Chapter 8

**I've never written a fanfic so fast before. I guess it's because I had already written in Spanish, and all I have to do is translate. Enjoy!**

-X-

"A heart attack?"

"Yes, massive. It was instantaneous."

"And you say the little girl found her?"

"Oh yes, poor thing…"

Bella hears these voices but has no desire to turn and face them. She sits close to her mother in a funeral home chair. People walk by and murmur when they see her, sharing amongst themselves the disturbing story of how it was Bella that found her piano teacher, dead. How she called her mother, and dialed for 911 as well, her quick thinking, and what a shame, she's so young, she must be traumatized.

What they don't whisper about is how time passed for Bella, deadly sluggish, hugging her knees to her chest on the living room ottoman. Rocking, balancing on her own body, fully aware of what lay behind the kitchen door. With her eyes shut so tight they ache, while she hums one of her piano pieces, tunelessly, her voice laced with threads of pure terror. They don't know that, and they never will.

Another tear creeps down her cheek, but Bella is so tired she doesn't bother to wipe it away. She leans her head against her mother's arm, seeking her lost peace of mind. Far away, she can barely distinguish the gray casket where Ms. Cullen rests. She can only see the faintest wisps of her caramel hair, and for that she is grateful. She doesn't want to come any closer; she has seen enough for a lifetime. Bella's parents thought it would be cathartic for their daughter to attend her teacher's funeral, to give her some sort of closure. So Bella's schoolmates have been trickling in as the afternoon wears on.

"I'm so sorry, Bella." Alice arrives with condolences for her friend. She is accompanied by other friends from school, who also approach Bella to give her a hug or hold her hand.

But she can only see Alice and a row of black candles, burning Debussy sheet music. To rid her of the 'problem' that Bella's piano lessons represent. She doesn't want to believe, she can't believe it's true—that Alice is to blame for Ms. Cullen's death.

Bella squeezes her eyes, wanting to forget what they did. She feels Alice scoot closer, settling in an empty chair next to her; she brushes her hand, silently. The black candles, the cold basement, the music on fire, the dead piano teacher on the kitchen floor, everything spins relentlessly in her head. She can't deal with it anymore. Alice is a real witch.

Almost sighing with relief, Bella faints on her mother's lap.


	9. Chapter 9

**Oh, getting closer and closer… working on "Always Where I Need To Be" too, but no promises on when that baby gets posted… meantime, enjoy. **

-X-

"I think the best thing would be a short vacation."

Bella listens to her parents talk about her from the living room. She tiptoes out of her room in her nightgown, made of soft cotton and lace. The new puppy her parents gave her in an attempt to distract her from the horror of the past few days tangles with her legs when she walks. She goes down the steps slowly to the landing, where she kneels with the puppy in her lap. Leaning against the banister, she can only distinguish shadows.

"You're right. Maybe a few days at in the country will do her good." Bella's mother rises and picks up a couple of wineglasses and takes them to the kitchen. Bella hears the click-clack of high heels on the floor while her father puts out the last cigar of the evening. She can smell the slightly bitter smoke that would bring him to mind even if she were halfway around the world.

Her mother returns from the kitchen and her father gets up. She turns off the living room lights and they head for the staircase together, ready for bed. Bella uncurls her legs and creeps back to her room, taking care to leave the door partly open, just like they left it hours ago.

Bella wishes for nothing more than to get away from home, and though she would never admit it out loud, away from Alice. She has managed to speak to her as little as possible, but she can't avoid her forever. It helps that her parents had decided to keep her from school for a couple of weeks, while Bella recovers from her scare. Now she would be offered an escape from Alice's bewitching eyes.

"I wouldn't mind taking some time off work either." She can still hear her parents' conversation from the darkness of her bedroom. She crawls into bed with the puppy cuddled in her arms and nestles under the blankets and fluffy pillows. For the first time in a while she feels her heart beat with ease. She cannot explain to her parents why she doesn't want to spend time alone with Alice; even if she did, they will never believe that her friend is a witch. Heavy-eyed, she hugs the puppy close and lets its warmth and its breathing lull her to the brink of sleep.

Before her parents close the door to their bedroom, she hears her mother say, "We'll invite her little friend Alice to keep her company."

-X-

**Wow, super short. Stay tuned…**


	10. Chapter 10

**Just read the most EPIC Robsten RPF on livejournal. It just makes you wish that were how it ****really happened. Sorry for the lack of updates. Here we go. **

-X-

"I understand, missus. Of coorse."

Alice listens behind the kitchen door while Nana speaks to Mrs. Swan. She has been invited on a short vacation to the Swans' country estate, to keep Bella company and cheer her up after her piano teacher's death.

Alice burns with desire to go. Her friendship with Bella sheds light into the loneliness that is her life. Kept mostly shut up in the huge house with her feeble grandmother and Nana, who speaks to and cares for no one (except possibly Alice); she has never had a real friend before.

Nana hangs up, and Alice jumps back from the door. She busies herself with her homework on the dining room table. Alice has been sending Bella's assignments to her, but hasn't actually seen her. Whenever she goes there, the books are received by Mrs. Swan, and Bella is always sleeping.

Nana lays her hand on Alice's shoulder. "I am giving you permission to go. I knows you was listening, child." She smiles indulgently at her charge.

Alice can't contain her joy. She jumps up on the chair and hugs Nana, squealing. She can't believe she's going to be pampered and coddled just like Bella. _With_ Bella, her best friend.

"But," Nana continues, settling Alice on the ground, "you must tell your grandmamma yesself."

The weight of that responsibility brings Alice down from her high. Frowning at Nana's impassive stare, she sighs and climbs the stairs with dread.

Upon entering her grandmother's bedroom, she is immediately assaulted by the sour-sweet smell emanating from the figure lying on the bed. Black, beady little eyes follow Alice until she reaches the bed.

"Grandma?" Alice swallows hard.

"What do you want?" The voice is feeble, but at least it is lucid. These rare moments are sometimes mixed up with events from the distant past. She often mistakes Alice for her own daughter, long dead.

"I, uh—have been invited to go with my friend, Bella Swan, and her family on a trip. Two weeks. Nana said I could go."

"Hmph. Well. Be sure and mind your manners, Mary Alice. Respect your betters. Now get out." The glittering onyx beads disappear behind wrinkled lids. Alice hurries out of the room.

"Bella is _not_ better than me," she mutters as she goes. Alice cannot describe the envy that eats away at her insides when she thinks about everything that Bella has: a lovely house, new dresses and toys, parents that adore her, innocence and beauty—especially that. Alice is particularly jealous of Bella's luxuriously long mahogany tresses. She fingers her own short, spiky hair as she walks to her room to help Nana pack her meager belongings for her vacation.

As they fold her old faded shirts and jeans, Alice wonders what other spells and stories she can wheedle out of Nana, to make them her own for Bella.

-X-

**Special thanks to all readers of "Fairy Poison" and especially to those of you who are more than a little creeped out by Alice. ****Tell me what you think about her now. Love!**


	11. Chapter 11

-X-

"Bella, Alice, lunch is ready!"

Holding hands, the girls head towards the house. The noonday sun beats on the estate, sweetly warming the patio. They've been playing all morning; the diversions of the grounds afford them hours of fun.

Despite the distractions the trip has given her, Bella feels confused by Alice's behavior. She seems like a completely different girl than the Alice she knows, full of secrets and machinations. Her parents have also succumbed to the power of Alice's charms. Her mother constantly says that she has never met a more polite and helpful girl.

Since they arrived at the country house, Bella and Alice have spent every minute of every day together. Bella lives in fear that Alice will cast a spell or curse, but so far, she has been acting normally. _Too normal_, thinks Bella.

For almost a week, they have played hide and seek among the old structures on the grounds and have helped tend the flock of sheep from the neighboring farm. They've also been enjoying the new puppy's antics, which has accompanied them all the way from the city. Bella's parents were right to imagine that the puppy would ease her fears and provide her with real companionship, just when she felt most alone.

They sit around the dining room table, while the cook serves them bowls of soup. Bella's mother peeks in briefly and informs them that she and her husband will be spending the rest of the afternoon in town, leaving them to their games and devices.

"I want to visit the village cemetery." Bella almost spits out her soup when she hears Alice's words. Her heart starts pounding.

"What for?"

"I think it's time to make some fairy poison."

"Poison?"

"Yes, fairies are enemies for witches. I want to kill the fairies that are hiding in the gardens. We need some frogs and herbs and earth from a cemetery." Alice holds her horrified gaze seriously. "And maybe a big chunk of _human_ hair." She stares pointedly at Bella's long mane, but Bella doesn't catch Alice's teasing glint.

"But why do we need earth from a _cemetery_?" Bella's voice squeaks on the last word.

"Because fairies are afraid of dead people. They walk at night, dead people—did you know that? And with the poison we can kill lots of fairies," Alice says in a satisfied tone.

Bella turns pale and lays her spoon on the table. Alice continues to eat peacefully, a slight smile drawn on her lips.

-X-

**About 3 more chapters to go, I think… review please!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Again, super busy, but now we're back on track. ****I hope. Nearing the end of this strange journey with Bella and Alice. Enjoy. **

-X-

"Don't be scared, Bella." Alice, standing amongst the crumbling tombstones of the village cemetery, holds a glass jar in her hands. Bella trembles, standing at the cemetery gate, the puppy sitting at her feet.

"I don't want to, Alice." It's possibly the first time that Bella dares to refuse a command.

Alice crouches, gathering moist dirt with her hands and filling the jar little by little. While she watches out of the corner of her eye, Bella goes in slowly, walking between the graves on her tiptoes. The puppy follows her, tangling around her ankles. It makes Bella trip, who falls on her knees and sullies her dress. She scrambles up quickly, and so does Alice. Bella looks revolted, trying to wipe her hands clean of mud. "Alice, let's go, please! I'm begging you!" Her voice shakes as much as her body, on the verge of tears.

"It's okay. You'll be okay, as long as you're with me. But if you're scared, the dead can feel it… and they'll come for you." Alice continues to cram earth into the jar, filling it completely with musty soil. Bella rubs a hand over her eyes, and takes a deep breath. She begins to retreat, feeling the boulders of the tombstones behind her. The only thing she wants more than life itself in these moments is to get as far away as possible from Alice. She resists the temptation to look down, very much aware of the dead that sleep beneath her feet.

"I can protect you, Bella. But… you'll have to give your puppy to me. Like a present." Bella feels a finger trace fear in her heart. The tears that have been lurking under the surface this entire time spill over her cheeks, imagining what would become of her beloved puppy in Alice's hands. Even more troubling, however, is the idea of the dead stirring in the bowels of the earth, reaching out for her with their arms, from which she would never escape.

Crying uncontrollably, she takes the puppy, squeezing it one last time against her chest, and hands it to Alice. The pet whines, its paws waving in the dry cemetery air as it struggles to return to Bella. Alice tries to keep it still, until the puppy gives up and remains panting in her arms.

Bella turns and runs, away from the witch and the smell of death.

-X-


	13. Chapter 13

"Tonight is perfect for making the poison." Alice smiles while the puppy frolics beside her facing the fire in the big stone chimney. The heat of the day yields to a cold night that merits the flames. Alice can't take her eyes off the puppy. She has always wanted one, but her grandmother is too mean to allow even Nana to keep her beloved singing birds.

Bella shrinks inside her white nightgown, hugging her knees tightly to her chest. She has resigned herself to the inevitable in an attempt to curb the terror that threatens to drag her into insanity.

"What are we going to do?"

"We'll go to the barn, at midnight. That's the witching hour." Alice feels a wave of heat as the firewood crackles in a burst of sparks. She pulls back quickly, until she reaches the foot of the couch where Bella is reclined. "We have all the ingredients, so we only need that big copper pot I saw in the kitchen. The barn has lots of room, away from the house, so no one will hear us."

"Okay. If we're getting up in a little while, we should go to bed now." Bella rises, sighing with barely contained sobs when she remembers that the puppy won't be sleeping with her. It has been sleeping trapped in Alice's iron grip, for it still tries to escape to be with its rightful owner.

They climb up to the bedroom, ready to pretend they're in for a long night's sleep. Bella considers talking to her parents, unmasking Alice for the witch she is, and ending this once and for all. But she knows she won't; all because of the fear, the damn fear.

They listen as the manor falls asleep bit by bit, folding in on itself, lulled by the sounds of the nighttime country. Neither of them can close their eyes; Bella nervous, Alice full of childish malice imagining what her friend must think of her in these moments. She wonders what other gifts she could pry from Bella's hands with her witch stories.

The hours slip by as though taken by a strong current, and Bella feels a claw grip her heart as she hears the old grandfather clock announce midnight from the living room.

"It's time!" Alice whispers as she gets up, and Bella imitates her. The puppy begins to whine and Alice cradles it in her arms, taking it with her so it won't give them away.

In the kitchen, Alice climbs on a chair to pull down the copper pot that hangs on the wall. Then she goes into the pantry in search of the jar of dirt and the bag of herbs she hid behind the sugar. She adds a couple of forgotten candles from the shelves. Bella does nothing except watch Alice's movements, tension creeping up her back in anticipation.

"Ready." Alice nods for Bella to take the matches from stove and help her carry the pot. To save time, they place the jar, candles, and puppy inside it. They exit slowly through the kitchen door, stooping under the weight of their load.

A gust of chilly wind makes their nightgowns billow, like ships set to sea, whistling among the treetops. This eerie lament accompanies them to the barn door, like a ghost lurking in the shadows.

-X-

**Sorry for the epic delay. One more chapter to go. **


	14. Chapter 14

"Bring the puppy." Alice places the bronze pot over the hay littering the boards of the barn loft. Both of them pant with the effort involved in carrying the pot up the rickety wooden latter. Before they went up, they took the puppy out of the pot to keep him from jumping out mid-trip. Now, it is paying quiet attention with its head tilted towards their muted voices.

Bella shivers with something more than the cold of the chilled drafts that creep between the barn's walls. The three electric bulbs that illuminate the space stocked with yellowed straw buzz in their niches. She wishes fervently that someone will wake up and investigate why the place is lit up and stop Alice.

"Why do we need him up here? He could fall." Bella pulls out the candles, the jar, and the herbs from the pot. Alice begins to arrange the candles around it and opens the earth-filled jar.

"He's not going to fall. We'll put him back in the pot. He's the perfect sacrifice." Alice turns her back on Bella and laughs quietly. This game has come too far and she's dying to find out how much longer she can draw it out.

Bella shakes her head violently, panic rising. "No, Alice. Not the puppy!" She's about to go down the ladder when Alice grips her hand tightly before she can escape.

"The puppy, or you."

Bella's eyes fill with tears, terror, and rage. She shakes her head again and tries to pull her hand free of Alice. In turn, Alice grasps it tighter, digging her nails in. She forces her to hold her gaze, and tastes metallic fear in her mouth. "Bring him, Bella."

Alice releases her, and then empties the dirt jar into the pot. She opens the bag of herbs, while she pictures Bella's face behind her, scared to death. Now she'll know there's nothing she can deny Alice.

But she's not really going to light up the hay. There is no power on earth that could make her get that close to real fire. As soon as Bella brings up the puppy, she can reveal the truth and they'll laugh about their adventures.

Bella climbs down rapidly, tripping over the last few rungs of rotting wood and falling to the floor along with the ladder. She sobs uncontrollably, while the puppy approaches her and licks her face. She takes it into her arms and tiptoes away, barefooted over the packed earth of the barn. Alice still has her back to Bella, going deeper into the corner of the loft, gathering dry hay and wood splinters.

Bella hears a soft rattle in her pocket. She reaches in, clutching the kitchen matches in her sweaty hand. She had forgotten about them, but now the pressure of her fingers over the box gives her back some sanity. She retreats even further, until her back crashes into the barn door. Groping blindly, she finds the latch and opens the door, letting the whistling wind inside. The puppy whimpers when Bella squeezes him too tightly, and they break out into the night.

Bella puts the puppy on the floor, toeing it gently out of the way with her foot. Taking several matches out of the box, she lights them all in a single pull and the smell of sulfur. She tosses them immediately on the nearest bales of hay. The flames flare up in a blaze, feeding voraciously. Bella slams the barn door, and hears the latch click into place.

Before she sees the fire, Alice can smell it. She runs to the edge of the loft, and almost falls over before she realizes that the wood ladder is completely out of reach. She hears the hay and the wood crackle, protesting as the fire sweeps over everything in its wake. Jumping from this height only to fall into the flames would be madness.

"Bella, help me!" Alice scrambles to her feet; she runs to the barn walls, beating on them, trying to find another way out. "Bella!" Her screams reach a desperate pitch, and the black smoke begins to rise, drowning out her cries. The panic inside her increases in leaps and bounds, thinking about how she'll roast to death. She sobs, defeated, retreating into the corner of the loft, when the fire creeps over the edge before her eyes. The smoke fills her lungs, Alice's frantic howls and wails mingling with the choking spasms.

Outside, Bella hears Alice's voice, but cannot take her eyes off the burning barn. She picks up the puppy again and holds it tightly in her arms. The blaze reaches the roof beams, which almost immediately collapse throwing sparks into the air. Alice's screams cease. 

Bella watches the joyful flames dance in a ballet from hell itself, burning the witch.

-X-

**THE END**

**I hope you enjoyed this story, creepiness and all. I took your suggestions to finish it on Halloween. Thank you all for your support, reviews, and comments. Stay tuned for the upcoming conclusion of "Always Where I Need to Be" and a new story, "Mine," a crossover with a very famous ****Mexican-Colombian soap-opera. Epic B/E love, intrigue, and fun times all around. **

**Cheers to all, and thanks for reading!**


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